The present invention is in the field of sprinklers, and in particular the class of decorative standpipe-type sprinklers in which a decorative sprinkler head of copper tubing rotates on a standpipe.
Tall, decorative, upright lawn sprinklers are well-known. One particular kind uses a vertical standpipe with a sprinkler head located at the top. The standpipe and/or the sprinkler head may include decoration and sculpture-like designs. Some of these designs even throw a decorative water pattern, depending on the manner in which spray holes in the sprinkler head are arranged.
These standpipe-type sprinklers function primarily as garden or lawn art, in addition to their often secondary sprinkling function. People buy them primarily because they are attractive and beautiful sculptural works which look good in gardens and on lawns, whether sprinkling or not (and most of the time they are not). Accordingly, new and different designs in the form of differently-shaped sprinkler tubing and internal decoration are being invented and created to satisfy the demand for pleasing sculptural and artistic arrangements.
A first class of efforts have focused on decorative, ornamental designs for the spray-tubing of the sprinkler head, i.e., typically the outermost portion of the sprinkler head formed from metal tubing such as copper and provided with a pattern of spray holes to emit the water in a decorative pattern.
A second class of efforts at creating pleasing designs is focused on the xe2x80x9cinternalxe2x80x9d portion of the sprinkler head comprising the area inside the spray-tubing. This portion does not have a spray function, but merely comprises interior decoration to fill the space inside the spray-tubing of the sprinkler head. To date, decorative interior designs first included metal tubing, piping, and wire bent and formed into various artistic patterns and designs, and more recently have included glass features such as gazing balls, colored glass bulbs, and the like.
The present invention is a wind-operated device mounted for rotation inside the spray-tubing portion of an upright, standpipe-type sprinkler with a rotating head. The wind-operated device is mounted to rotate independently of the rotation of the spray tubing portion of the sprinkler head, and in particular is operated primarily by the wind (rather than the rotation of the spray tubing portion of the sprinkler head, although some minor frictional impartation of movement to the wind-operated device may be imparted by the rotating sprinkler head in windless conditions).
In a first version of the invention, the wind-operated device is essentially two-dimensional, i.e., capable of lying at rest within the plane of the sprinkler head tubing.
In a second version of the invention, the wind-operated feature is three-dimensional, i.e., with portions extending at rest outside the plane of the typically planar spray tubing portion of the sprinkler head.
The present invention also includes several specific embodiments of rotatable bearing arrangement for securely mounting the rotatable wind-operated feature inside the spray tubing portion of the sprinkler head. In a first form, the wind feature mount is an upright post extending from a bottom portion of the sprinkler head in coaxial alignment with the standpipe, and a bearing rotating on the upper end of the post with the wind-operated feature connected thereto. The wind-operated feature in the first version therefore simply rests on top of the post on a bearing.
In a second version of a mounting arrangement, bearing supports extend both from bottom and top portions of the spray tubing portion of the sprinkler head (therefore primarily being useful in fully-enclosed spray tubing) each with a rotatable bearing mounted thereon. In a preferred form the wind-operated feature is connected to these upper and lower bearings, and comprises a work of art spanning the gap between the bearings. In the most preferred form of this second version, the wind-operated feature comprises a plurality of wind-catching, decorative elements which arc between outside surfaces of the bearings such that a space is created between the bearings. In yet a further preferred form, at least the lower of the set of bearings comprises a mount for an internal decorative feature inside the wind-catching portions, which feature may or may not be wind driven and in which in one form comprises a decorative glass piece such as a gazing ball.
In a third version of the mounting arrangement, the rotatable bearing is a retrofit or add-on feature adapted to fit into the common blind bore socket protruding up from the bottom portion of the sprinkler head in line with the standpipe (and often forming an extension of a T-shaped, water-conducting fitting connected to receive water from the standpipe).